News: Archive for September, 2010
‘As proposed American offshore wind-farm projects creep forward — slowed by state legislative debates, due diligence and environmental impact assessments — China has leapt past the United States, installing its first offshore wind farm.’
via Chinese Offshore Development Blows Past U.S. – NYTimes.com.
‘A possible new energy source—electricity stored in water in the atmosphere—has been discovered, according to a team of scientists from the University of Campinas in Brazil.’
via Hygroelectricity: Possible New Energy Source | Science | Epoch Times.
U.S. energy use flow chart:
‘WASHINGTON, September 15 (Reuters) – So far, 2010 is tied for the warmest year on record, and Arctic sea ice reached its third-lowest level, prompting thousands of walruses to haul themselves out of ice-starved waters, United States scientists said on Wednesday.’
‘Reuters – World leaders will next week consider a target for halting extinctions of animals and plants by 2020 that many experts rate impossibly ambitious given mounting threats such as climate change and loss of habitats.’
via World examines impossible goal to halt extinctions | Reuters.
‘Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday announced the start of a new website intended to help Californians find jobs in green industries.’
‘Worldwide, the impact of irrigation practices may be even larger than is obvious from an airplane window. In a newly published research paper, two scientists in New York have found that widespread irrigation is altering weather patterns and probably masking the effects of global warming in some localities.’
via Climate Change and the Irrigation Juggernaut – NYTimes.com.
‘…The answer is that the build up of greenhouse gases would fall short of the level that many climate scientists say would trigger the most devastating effects of global warming, researchers reported on Thursday in the journal Science.’
via What if today’s CO2-emitting devices were the last? | Reuters.
‘HONG KONG — The United Steelworkers union plans to file a legal case with the Obama administration on Thursday, accusing China of violating World Trade Organization rules by subsidizing exports of clean energy equipment, the union’s president and his advisers said.’
via Steelworkers Accuse China of Violating Trade Rules – NYTimes.com.
‘Fragmentation of the UN-overseen Clean Development Mechanism “is maybe unavoidable, but it’s not a scenario to which we look forward,” chief climate negotiator Christiana Figueres told a conference in New Delhi.’
via New Carbon Markets May Pose `Serious Challenge’ to UN Program, Envoy Says – Bloomberg.